Quote - The reason they do Infinite as PLE is to suck you in :)

It worked.

Quote - As a hobby user, a lot of people don't need Infinite at all, but they still buy it after using PLE. It has a slightly different UI for a number of functions that simply work better then the Artists versions. It of course offers a number of features that the Artist versions lack. I tried the PL version first and also the 30 day trial of Studio (the version I wanted to get). I had a hard time going from PLE to the Studio trial, you right away miss certain features and notice that PLE has a better setup then the Artists versions. To this day, I still miss a number of features.

All of the Artist versions of Vue went on sale the other day, for 25% off through July 6.  I was only $70 away from 2014 Complete (the version I started this thread for) when I found out, so I downloaded the 30-day trial.

Ho-ly cow...

Just in terms of aesthetics, the differences in the UI between Complete and the Infinite PLE are like night and day.

And good luck to anyone finding a tutorial that actually uses 2014 Complete, or active support forums.  The Kickstart Tutorial off the Help menu even points to a low-quality, non-controllable, browser-run SWF video that uses Vue 6!  By low quality, I mean it's all text-based, and the menu options in the version they use are completely illegible.

Even worse, neither version is compatible with my 3D mouse.  That alone is a deal-breaker for me, I don't care how powerful Vue is.

I'm going to stay away from Vue altogether, and stick with pre-fabbed Poser content.  There's a really nice looking Enchanted Forest at DAZ3D that will suffice for my interest in creating woodsy death scenes, and my Poser/Reality/Lux workflow will let me do great things with it.

Now I just have to figure out what else to do with the $530 I've saved.  :)

Reality is for anyone interested in creating photorealistic 3D art using physically accurate materials based on real-world properties.  I've used Reality 3 exclusively since it was released last year.

The single biggest advantage it offers over Firefly is being able to create and edit physically accurate materials with just a few clicks instead of spending months or years learning how to master Poser's Material Room to achieve similar effects.

In other words, imagine bagginsbill's knowledge and experience programmed into a $30 plugin, and you've got Reality.

Quote - If you only do still images, like I do, the render quality is fine, Infinite isn't any better.

As mentioned before, I have no interest in animation, so thanks for clarifying.

What about the differences in the UI?  I don't want to be following a tutorial and find myself having to figure out a work-around to accomplish whatever's being taught.

Quote - Just check out e-on's user gallery. Lots of real cool stunning pictures. But most of them have that Vue typical poor antialiased grainy look.

I've seen several of their gallery images.  I've yet to see any that have aliased edges or a grainy appearance.

Based on the last few posts above, Complete doesn't sound very ideal anymore, at least with regard to render quality and the UI.

Maybe I should skip it and save up for Infinite.

I think I found out, at Cornucopia3D.  SkinVue Elite, and there's an upgrade for compatibility with Genesis 2.

I'm $160 away from Vue 2014 Complete.  I'll be signing up for their monthly upgrade subscription plan as well.

What's the latest version of SkinVue?

Quote -
Sorry Nygtfall, didn't see your post.

Don't mind me, I'm just replying to the trouble causers here :woot:
I'm sure you'll enjoy Vue big-time, it's a very cool program.

No worries.  It's all good.  Thanks.  :)

Quote - For that you don't even need to go Complete at all. Studio will be fine for that with perhaps the ecopaint module as an addition. Complete has the ecopaint as well as the 3Dexport module and an animation module. If you don't need to export from Vue and don't do animation, Studio will be the better choice.

I'm not interested in animating, and am not yet sure what features I will need, but I don't want to later find myself wanting a feature I don't have, either.  That's why I'm looking at Complete.

pumeco,

I may try Blender when the day comes I want to start creating my own content, but for the purpose I've expressed in this thread, Vue sounds like the ideal solution for me.

Thank you all for your input.  I greatly appreciate it.

I've installed the PLE, and will start learning how to use it while saving up for Complete.

pumeco,

I appreciate your enthusiastic suggestion that I try Blender.  Thank you.

Perhaps it will help refine the flow of input if I further clarify what, exactly, I want to do.

I'm looking for something that will let me create realistic outdoor environments without having to model each individual blade of grass, tree, or cloud layer. 

For example, I want to be able to create a dense patch of forest, add a couple of Poser figures to the scene, and then render a Friday the 13th-esque image that depicts one of them impaling the other against a tree.

From what I've read of Vue and Blender's feature lists, Blender wasn't designed for that.  Vue was.  I just wasn't sure if a Poser > Vue workflow was worth $600 for a copy of 2014 Complete, so I thought I'd ask.

Quote - Regarding materials: Vue does not convert materials from Poser or DAZ Studio... One has the option to "render with Poser shader tree"... I rarely use this approach as I find the Vue materials far better.

Ah.  So, I needn't concern myself with trying to convert Poser's shaders anyway.

Quote - With advanced versions I was referring to the "Professional" versions of Vue (Infinite and Xstream).

Thank you for clarifying.

Quote - I've never used http://render.otoy.com/ but they list Poser.

I tried that last week.  The UI is atrocious compared to Reality 3's.

Quote - a lot of it is the textures on a mesh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W07H7xeUnGE

just need to watch to time stamp to 4:19.
don't matter what app Andrews using all app work the same

That first 4:19 is the single most concise, straight-forward explanation of good texture mapping I have ever heard.

Thank you.

Quote - I would not base a descision on the free Pioneer version. The free PLE ( http://www.e-onsoftware.com/try/vue_2014_ple/ ) is based on Infinite (Which I use) and has all features.

Ah.  Good deal.  Thanks.

Quote - The kind of scenes you are looking at are doable with Vue. They will require some serious work with materials (which you can buy or learn how to do yourself in the function editor).

Similar to what I do with Reality 3, or does Vue lack the ability to accurately convert things like procedural shaders for further tweaking in Vue?

Quote - Vue gives you full control over every aspect of lighting and rendering (in the advanced versions).

By "advanced versions", do you mean no such lighting or render control in 2014 Complete, or are you comparing Vue with Lux?

Quote - A fully optimized Vue scene can give you the same quality as a Lux Render in a signifcantly shorter time for many scenes (there are things where Lux or any non-biased render engine are superior (complex caustics with accurate dispersion for example).

You're the second person who's told me Lux is better than Vue in terms of rendering physically accurate materials and environmental effects.  I find that intriguing.  I've always been under the impression that Lux was a poor artist's alternative to high-end apps like Vue.

So, Vue is actually a biased renderer?

Quote - Vue can definitely do decent indoor renders (there are some examples in my gallery).

Good stuff.  I especially like Good Morning Dystopia.

Quote - However it was originally designed as a landscape modelling and render app and one has to jump through some hoops sometimes for a pure indoor render.

I noticed all of their promo examples only featured outdoor renders.

It looks like I'm going to want to plan on using two different workflows depending on the project.

Poser > Vue for outdoor scenes

Poser > Reality 3 > Lux for indoor scenes

Quote - Depends what you are after.

I want to create Horror-movie-style death scenes using environmental textures and lighting that look as realistic as possible, regardless of whether the action is happening inside or out.

Quote - With respect to "Hyper-realism" (what is that anyway? something more than realistic?)...

It's a form of 3D art designed to make images resemble high-resolution photographs.

Quote -Vue can get you there in the right kind of scene. This will also come at a price in render time...

Thanks to Lux, I've grown accustomed to long render times.  I let one piece cook for 67 hours before I was satisfied with the result.

Quote -
I would strongly recommend to download the PLE. It will allow you to try the features and Poser import to see if it is what you want.

Thanks for the tip.  I noticed e-on software offers a version of Vue, Pioneer 2014, for free, and will test the water with that.

Quote - If you get along with it (and have a good solid machine with fast processor and lots of ram, I am using 32Gb with an i7 hex core) then Vue will put a lot of power in your hands.

I built my current PC last October, with the primary intent of using it as a render rig.  It's got a 3.5 GHz Core i7-4770K running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit with 32 GB of RAM and a 4 GB Geforce GTX 760 graphics card.  Based on what I read of Vue's hardware requirements, I don't imagine I'll have any trouble running it.

Quote -
If you have specific questions, feel free to ask!

You mentioned it wasn't necessarily designed for creating indoor scenes  How does it fair with them anyway?  Should I plan on using it primarily for outdoor renders and when I want an indoor scene to have a nice looking window view?

Between the Materials and Camera tabs.

There's a Lights tab in the Reality Editor that controls which lights get sent to Lux.  Just click that, and uncheck the lights you don't want included in your render.

In other words, I'd be wasting my money.